KotB is a new module - or total conversion, if you prefer - for the Atari game Temple of Elemental Evil. It was created by modders at the Circle of Eight fansite (www.Co8.org) and freely distributed. It requires the original Temple of Elemental Evil game, patched to patch 2. It does not require any other mods from Co8, such as Co8 5.0: it is a separate module to ToEE and not a mod of it.

KotB is for starting level players. It attempts to push many elements of the ToEE engine to their limits, using the engine's capacity for animations, quests, skills, feats and dialogue, as well as combat, to produce an adventure game in the classic puzzle-solving mode. There is considerably more thought required to finish KotB than ToEE: though all the information is still given in the game, and it is not excessively difficult, just more thoughtful than the original game.

The aim of the game is simple. The player controls a number of characters who have arrived at the Keep on the Borderlands seeking fame, fortune and adventure. The player needs only talk to the NPCs of the Keep and surrounding locales, and role-play his or her alignment, to find a variety of adventures (including more than 20 quests in the Demo). Once the player has followed one of the various plotlines to its completion, they will have the option of proceeding to the endgame and finale.

What's in the Demo?

The Demo contains the entire Outer Bailey of the Keep (though not all the NPCs found there...), Spider Woods, Mad Hermit encounter, Lizardman encounter, Lizardman Refuge, and a variety of other encounters out in the world around and beyond (and under) the Keep. Essentially, everything except the Raider Camp, Caves of Chaos and Inner Fortress. Being a Demo, some characters are missing - including some essential ones such as the Priest (who appears in the Demo but doesn't say anything) - and many areas are not fully fleshed out. However, there are more than 100 NPCs who do have dialogue files, more than 20 quests, and several different plotlines with multiple quests each to allow for different styles of play and alignment choices. There's also lots of fights, treasure, and things to spend it on.